Several legal experts and a Washington watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington are suing President Trump in federal court alleging he is violating the emoluments clause in the U.S, Constitution, which forbids public officials from taking bribes and financial gifts from foreign governments. The suit alleges President Donald Trump received money from foreign governments through his private business deals… Tom Herriman has more.

City of Oakland police and sanitation crews dismantled a homeless encampment at 36th and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in west Oakland Feb 2, evicting as many as fifteen residents and barring dozens more volunteers and supporters from the area. Photo: Village resident Nancy Mitchell packs up her belongings into a shopping cart under watchful eyes of Oakland Police. Report by Tom Herriman.

The Chipotle restaurant chain which went through a major food safety crisis last year now faces claims by thousands of current and former employees that the company has been cheating them on overtime pay for years. Chipotle has over 45,000 employees in 2,000 stores and a net income of $475 million but could be facing tens of millions in back pay awards. Pacifica's Tom Herriman reports:

Hundreds of former members of the Black Panther Party, friends, scholars, admirers and well wishers gathered at the Oakland Museum of California over the weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the party’s founding in Oakland in 1966. To get a perspective on half a century of activism, Pacifica News reporter Tom Herriman asked two veteran Panther leaders to talk about the roots of their connection to the Party, and how Black Panther ideals are faring 50 years later. (Photo: Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver).

American consumers swiped their credit cards 25.4 billion times in 2012, buying over $2.4 trillion worth of groceries, gas and tv sets. The credit card companies and the banks charged on average $1.62 on each swipe producing billions in revenue. Where’s does that money really go? and how is it affecting our economy? Tom Herriman reports on the hidden costs of paying with plastic.

Meet some of the workers who pack your salads and arrange your arugula:
Taylor farms is the largest fresh-cut fruit and vegetable producer in the U.S. with 10,000 employees and $1.8 billion in revenue. They grow, process and package salads and vegetables for McDonalds, Safeway, and countless school districts and food suppliers across the nation.
When workers at Taylor Farms in Tracy California decided to form a union in 2013, they didn’t think they would be in for a bitter years-long battle with the company including numerous charges of firings, intimidation and other illegal behavior by the company. After all, Taylor Farms had long recognized and worked with the union at its plants 100 miles south in Salinas.
In fact, the union campaign in Tracy has been one of the bitterest fights in the agriculture industry in recent memory, and the final resolution of the conflict will be made at the highest levels of the National Labor Relations Board. I met some Taylor Farms workers last week and produced this story for KPFA.
Photo, Taylor Farms workers Brenda Vega and Armida Galeana.

Uganda’s draconian anti-gay law was struck down by the Constitutional Court in August last year, but the scrapped legislation could be quickly revived and would pass easily in parliament. A solid wall of opposition by Western donor nations is giving Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni 2nd thoughts about whether to allow the bill to surface again. But there’s also growing opposition to the bill within Uganda. Whether the bill becomes law or not, widespread homophobia and lack of legal protection has made life increasingly precarious for gays in Uganda. A gay Ugandan tells KPFA reporter Tom Herriman about decades of harassment, arrests, mob attacks, and living as an outcast from society.

(Broadcast on Pacifica Evening News, KPFA, May 27, 2014).
Adjunct professors at San Francisco Art Institute won a resounding victory Friday as they voted by a 78% margin to join with the Service Employees International Union—the SEIU—to bargain with the college for better wages and job security. Less than a month ago, adjunct professors at Mills College in Oakland also voted to join SEIU, also by a 78% margin, to combat what they say are dismal working conditions at Mills and for the majority of college teachers across the country.
Contrary to the traditional view of professors, over 75% of the nation’s 1.5 million college faculty are now part-time temporary employees who have no job security, no path to full-time tenured positions, and who earn wages more often seen in the fast food industry. NPR reports US adjuncts earn an average of between $20,000 and $25,000 per year.
This disposable work force includes part-time faculty called adjuncts or adjunct professors, graduate assistants, and a few full time temporary faculty.
Reporter Tom Herriman recently asked some of the adjuncts at Bay area colleges to explain the reasons behind their unionizing efforts.
Photo: Mills College Adjuncts Ben Brown and Kate Robinson.

Passage of AB 109 by the California Assemby two years ago has focused new attention on the problem of re-integrating formerly incarcerated people back into society. The legislation was brought about by Federal court rulings that force California to address its overcrowded prisons. AB 109’s solution is to transfer thousands of non-violent, non-sexual, non-serious offenders to county correction systems. The bill also provided billions of dollars to the counties to handle the influx. . But the new law provides little guidance to counties on how to use the money, or standards on how transitioning prisoners should be treated.
To look at some of the challenges and opportunities under AB 109, reporter Tom Herriman talked to two men, Michael Santos and Gary Scott, who have recently been navigating the re-entry process.

In 2009, the US Supreme Court ordered the state of California to reduce its prison population, setting off some of the biggest changes ever seen in the state’s prison system. In response, the legislature passed AB109 a bill that would transfer thousands of prisoners and billions of dollars to county law enforcement agencies, and provided the biggest opportunity in the state’s history to reform and reshape California’s penal system. Tom Herriman reports on some of the most important developments, and some opinions from key participants in the system.

Port of Oakland Truck drivers who shut down the giant SSA Marine terminal for most of the day October 21 are cautiously claiming some modest success for their protest. The drivers are seeking higher pay for transporting containers, better bathroom access, a congestion fee to compensate for long waiting times, and help in retrofitting their trucks to meet strict new environmental rules. The truckers received crucial help in their protests from members of the International Longshore and Warehouse union who refused to cross the picket lines. But ILWU members are now debating over whether and how much to continue their support of the truckers. In the photo, POTA spox Frank Adams.

Frustrated truck drivers at the port of Oakland held their second picket line in two months this morning to protest long waiting times that cut into earnings, the high cost of meeting new air quality standards, and dehumanizing treatment while in the Port waiting for loads.
By law, the over 4,000 truck drivers who haul containers to and from the Port are not employees. Rather, they are independent contractors who maintain their own rigs, and pay all their own fuel and maintenance costs. Their income depends on the number of loads they can haul everyday.

Edward Lee Elmore, jailed since 1982 for a crime he didn't commit, got out of jail March 2 in a plea bargain. He had to confess to get out, but still maintains he didn't do the murder he was charged with. In a new book, author Raymond Bonner describes Elmore's ordeal in detail. I interviewed Bonner on the day of Elmore's release. In photo, Elmore with lead counsel Diana Holt, center, and previous counsel Marta Kahn.